Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

“Its hard to believe it was just last Christmas that Harmony and I changed the world. And we didn’t mean to and it didn’t last long. You know a thing like that can’t.” ~ Harry

I stumbled upon this movie completely by accident on a movie night that an ex-roommate and I were having. If I remember correctly we stumbled on it via on-demand and my love of Robert Downey, Jr. and her love of Val Kilmer made it a win-win choice. I fell in love with this movie and it quickly became one of my favorites, one that I re-watch often. It also fits into the alternative holiday movies list that I have been compiling for quite awhile now.

This is a movie that I wish would have been made into a television series. At the end it almost feels like a beginning, a start of an uncommon pairing of detectives, with Harmony in-and-out of the plots, as well. Of course, I would have wished for the series to still star Robert and Val, which looking at their movie roles recently (especially Iron Man/Sherlock Holmes himself with RDJ) this would not be feasable, but a girl can wish and dream.

There are moments that hit very hard and personal to me, especially in regards to Harmony’s father and he childhood, but I also find it empowering as the story unfolds, especially the exchange between Harry and her father towards the end.

The movie on a whole has a little bit of everything I love all wrapped up in one, humor, intelligent writing, witty dialogue, intrigue, action, suspense, a very believable love story, flushed out characters with well-developed relationships, characters that you cannot help but fall in love with despite their flaws, and an interesting take on the holidays, and a modern take on film noir genre. I hope you consider adding it to your must-see list for the holidays, I know that I am adding it to this weekend’s (re)watch-list.

Broken :: Robert Downey, Jr.